Poker
Poker is still in a beta phase. To minimize impact on the normal game experience, you can't play with your ingame money yet. This will be changed once we have positive results.
Tabletop
Lobby
In the poker lobby you can see all the available tables. Additionally, you can get more information about the blinds, the players and the player count for each table. Clicking on "Join" lets you join the table.
If you don't want to join an available table but start your own, you can open a table in the bottom right corner of the window. You have to name the table and wait for other players to join you.
Poker table
The current players are displayed around the table. Below their names you can see the amount of cash the player has at the table. The current pot is displayed in the middle of the table.
If you don't want to play poker anymore click on the door button on the bottom right corner to leave the table.
Statistics
You can find your personal poker statistics in the upper part of the window in the "Statistics" tab. Here you can see how many rounds you have played, how much money you have won, what your highest pot was and which rank you are.
Rules
The cards
A deck of cards consist of fifty two cards divided into four different suits - hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds. There are thirteen different cards in each suit, numbered from two to ten followed by the jack, queen, king and ace. The higher the value on the card, the better they usually are.
Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (descending)
The hands
Ten different types of hands exist, each consisting of exactly five cards. The player with the highest hand wins the pot in the middle of the table. If there are multiple players with the same hand, the player with the higher valued cards wins. If two players have exactly the same hand then the pot is split between them.
The types of hands are as follows, sorted descending in value:
- Royal Flush: Ace through to 10 all of the same suit
- Straight Flush: Five cards in a row of the same suit
- Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same number
- Full House: Three cards of the same number plus another pair identical in number
- Flush: Five cards with the same suit
- Straight: Five cards in a sequence
- Three of a kind: Three cards with the same suit
- Two Pair: Two pairs of cards with the same number
- One Pair: A pair of cards with the same number
- High Card: Single highest value card on the table
Texas Hold´em Poker
Different rules and variations of poker exist. In The West, the popular "Texas Hold 'em" is played. The rules are as follows:
- Every player gets dealt two cards, known as hole cards.
- The Flop: Three cards are laid face up in the centre of the table.
- The Turn: Another card is dealt to the table.
- The River: A fifth and final card is dealt.
The five cards on the table are called community cards, every player can use them as part of their hand. Each player selects the best combination of five cards from their hole and the community cards.
After the next card(s) are dealt, a round of betting occurs. (I.e the process is dealing hole cards, betting, flop, betting, etc.) The player to the left of the dealer begins the betting, initially by paying the small blind, which continues in a clockwise direction.
Betting Rules
Dealer and Blinds
The Dealer (D), Small Blind (S) and Big Blind (B) are marked with small round buttons in front of the respective players. They move clockwise around the table after each round.
The dealer normally distributes the cards, however since this is done by the computer in online poker they have no notable tasks.
The players with the blinds have to place a bet at the beginning of the game. You can see how high the blind is from the lobby. The small blind is half of the big blind. The small blind defines the smallest possible amount for a raise.
Betting options
After new cards are dealt or a bet is raised, you must select an action to take. The possible actions are:
Fold / Check: If you don't want to match a raise or the blind then you can 'fold', forfeiting your chance to win the pot. If every player except one folds then the remaining player automatically wins the pot. If there is no raise to match then you will instead 'check', abstaining from bidding which moves on to the next player. If nobody else raises then the next card(s) are dealt, otherwise you have to decide another action when the bidding returns to you.
Call / Check: If a player has raised the pot during this round of bidding then you can 'call' their raise, paying the same amount into the pot. If nobody has raised yet then you will check instead.
Raise: Place a bid into the pot plus call any previous raises. It must be at least the price of the small blind.
If a player bids all their money at once, they are said to have gone "all-in". If the player loses the round they will have no cash left and must leave the table. After a player goes all-in the other players can continue to raise the pot. Should the all-in player win the round they are not eligible to claim the entire pot, instead the additional raises are awarded to the player with the second best hand.